CRACKERS I: The Gold Rush

Software piracy in the 1980s and 1990s

The first volume in the CRACKERS series explores one of the most secretive chapters of the early computer age.

Digital visions and copy parties, intrigue and industrial espionage, disk traders and software pirates. Elitism, escapism and persecution. The mysterious world of crackers and their underground organisations left a lasting mark on computer culture.

From the USA to Europe

A narrative journey back to an era when data was stored on floppy disks, computer games were becoming mass entertainment and the law was struggling to keep pace with a rapidly changing digital world.

Combining oral history with contemporary media reports, CRACKERS follows the trail of a secretive international computer underground.

What distinguished a cracker from a hacker? Why did the games industry consider software piracy such a serious threat? And how did these groups organise themselves long before the internet connected the world?

Captivating anecdotes, historical accounts and hundreds of images bring this remarkable chapter of software history back to life.

Behind the underground

The CRACKERS series does more than document the activities of the cracking scene. It also examines the contemporary games industry, its relationship with the computer press and the different legal frameworks confronting software piracy across national borders.

Production budgets and commercial pressures are explored alongside the perspectives of game developers, publishers and protection specialists. At the same time, the book traces the evolution of cracker and demo groups, revealing how competition, reputation and technical skill helped create an increasingly organised underground culture.

Inside the European network

CRACKERS: The Gold Rush takes the reader deeper into a highly organised European network that, in many respects, operated with the efficiency and international reach of a modern organisation.

Key industry figures including Rob Northen offer their perspectives, while former codebreakers from the Apple II, BBC Micro, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Amiga and especially the Atari ST recall the techniques, rivalries and motivations behind a remarkable period of computer history.

Their stories reveal a generation that explored the boundaries of software, technology and legality – and created an underground culture whose influence extended far beyond cracked games.

The story continues

Interviews with the protagonists and contributors continue in the second volume: CRACKERS II: The Data Storm.

Cracking crews & software pirates

Radwar, German Cracking Service, B.O.S.S., MCA, Hotline, Dynamic Duo, 42-Crew, Copy Service Stuttgart, Troll & Co., ST Computer Service, The Blade Runners, The Medway Boys, Pompey Pirates, Automation, LSD, The Corporation, BBC, Cynix, The Replicants, Delight, The Exceptions, The Union, The Lost Boys, TCB, The Empire, Elite, Tristar & Red Sector and more …

Games industry & software companies

Thalion, Eclipse, Magic Bytes, Factor 5, Rainbow Arts, Argonica, Acornsoft, Graftgold, Firebird, Ocean, U.S. Gold, Magnetic Scrolls, Bullfrog, DMA Design, Mastertronic, Codemasters, Kingsoft, Erbe Software, Epyx, Electronic Arts, Ubi Soft, Infocom, Brøderbund, MicroProse, Sierra, Lucasfilm Games …

Copy protection, law & enforcement

FAST, APP, Copylock Software, Gravenreuth & Syndikus …

Special features

Hagbard Celine (Illuminatus!) // Hacker vs. Cracker // Radwar Party 2 & 3 // Was (Not Was) // Cracking the Industry // The Crackers Deal: Mimetic Entrepreneurs // Cult of the Circle // Blue Boxing // GNU Licence // Hackers in the Movies // WD1772: The Atari Floppy Controller // Boot Sector Messages: Thalion // Dragonflight: Uncrackable Protection? // Manual Protection // Game Extensions: Value Enhancement

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DIGITAL EDITION

• First PDF Edition
• Optimised for Acrobat Reader
• 336 full-colour pages
• 170 × 230 mm portrait format
• Made in Germany